“The Necessity of the Gospel Proclaimer”

Romans 10:13-15

Series: United in the Gospel

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

Oftentimes people have great ideas for things that can be done in churches. They may say, “Hey pastor, let’s start a new sports league.” Or, “What if we started a cafe that ministered to the community?” Or, “We should have free breakfast every Sunday.” When I hear these great ideas, my response is often, “I love that idea, who is going to do it?” Usually, things get very quiet at that point. You see, in order for something to be done, somebody has to do it (that’s profound, isn’t it?).

In today’s passage, the apostle Paul is going to discuss the idea that the gospel must be proclaimed in order for people to respond to the gospel.

Today’s sermon is entitled, “The Necessity of the Gospel Proclaimer.” The gospel must be proclaimed in order for people to be saved. That’s what we’ll learn this morning.

Before we go any further, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to speak to us supernaturally.

(prayer)

In Romans 8, we heard about the amazing saving love of God. In Romans 9, we learned that God is doing something throughout eternity to draw His children to Himself to be saved. In Romans 10, we learned about how people must respond to the gospel message.

That brings us to where we are today.

As we journey through this passage this morning, we’re going to learn four things that lead to some other thing.

First, let us learn that . . .

I. Calling leads to salvation (13)

This first point is a review of where we ended last week. Let’s look at it again. Look at Romans 10:13

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

As a reminder, this is Paul referring back to a prophecy from the Old Testament book of Joel. This is Joel 2:32.

Paul is saying, as Joel also prophesied, that there is salvation found in Jesus Christ and that salvation comes to anyone and everyone who calls upon the name of Jesus.

So, as we journey through this passage we must establish what the need is. The need is salvation. We must be saved because we need to be cleansed from the curse of sin. We need to be saved from the suffering that awaits us without Jesus. We need to have the wages of sin washed away.

We need help!

Do you remember the Life Alert commercials from the 1990s? The famous line from the commercials is, “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” In the commercial, this person is calling out for help. So also, we need major help, so we must call out to God!

We need salvation so we must call upon the name of the Lord. Calling leads to salvation.

Second, . . .

II. Proclaiming leads to hearing (14-15)

We must call out for help, right? Well, how do we call out unless we know that we must call out? That’s the heart of Paul’s next two verses.

Look at Romans 10:14-15:

14 “How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”

Paul paints a picture of a progression that must proceed in order for a person to proclaim that Jesus is Lord. Pay attention; Paul lays it out backward on purpose:

Paul says a person cannot call on Jesus if they have not believed in Jesus.

Paul says that a person cannot believe in Jesus unless they’ve heard about Jesus.

Paul says that a person cannot hear about Jesus unless someone preaches the message.

Finally, Paul says that someone will not preach unless they are sent.

So, this salvation process, on the human side, begins with someone being sent to proclaim the gospel message.

Ok, let’s talk about this a bit. First of all, let’s talk about the word preacher at the end of verse 14.

Preacher in this sense is not simply someone who is a pastor or minister for their job. It is someone who is